The present disclosure relates to storage devices (e.g., caddies, shelves, etc.) that can be adhesively mounted to a wall. More particularly, it relates to wall mountable storage devices useful to hold a variety of items and adhesively mounted to various wall surfaces, including uneven and/or non-flat wall surfaces, such as a bath or shower enclosure wall.
Adhesives (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesives) have often found use in attaching articles to surfaces. For example, double-faced adhesive strips (i.e., strips bearing adhesive on both opposing major surfaces) are widely known and used. In particular, stretch-releasing adhesive strips and tapes have found use in a wide variety of assembly, joining, attaching, and mounting applications.
One such exemplary use of double-faced adhesives is to hold or mount a storage device (e.g., shelves, containers, baskets, caddies, etc.) to a wall. For example, shower and bath storage devices, often referred to as a shower or bath caddy, are commonly used to hold and/or store items such as soap, shampoo, and other bath items in shower and bath enclosures. Because of the weight of the stored items and because it is generally not practical to mount such items to the shower or bath enclosure wall using mechanical fasteners (e.g., nails or screws), such devices are typically hung from the shower nozzle fixture. Other techniques include mounting the storage device to the shower or bath wall with suction cups; however, suction cups have limited holding capacity and tend to lose their holding ability over time. To address these problems, shower caddies and other storage or organizing devices have been devised that utilize stretch-releasable adhesive tapes to secure the storage device to the shower wall. For example, 3M Command Shower Caddy™ products available from 3M Company of St. Paul, Minn. are available and have been well received.
A variety of mounting plate or backplate constructions have been developed that facilitate secure connection between the storage device and the double-faced adhesive (and thus the wall to which the storage device is mounted). In general terms, the mounting plate serves as an intermediate structure that mechanically connects the storage device with the double-faced adhesive. The mounting plate provides a bracket or other mounting fixture along one side, and is directly attached to the adhesive along the opposite side. The storage device, in turn, carries a complimentary bracket or fixture configured to releasably engage the mounting plate's bracket, preferably in a snap fit engagement. Mounting of the storage device to a wall surface includes the mounting plate attached to the storage device, a first side of the adhesive secured to the mounting plate, and a second side of the adhesive connected to the wall surface. When removal of the entire assembly from the wall is desired, the storage device is first disconnected from the mounting plate. Once the storage device is removed, the mounting plate/adhesive can easily be accessed and released from the wall surface (e.g., stretch-releasing the adhesive). Similar designs and mounting techniques are commonly employed for other wall mountable storage devices that are not necessarily intended to be used in a shower or bath environment.
In many instances, the storage device in question is relatively long (e.g., 6 inches or more) and is intended to be maintained in a horizontal orientation. Under these circumstances, one or more individual strips of the double-faced adhesive are applied at or adjacent opposite ends of the storage device (via the mounting plates described above) to provide robust support upon mounting to a wall surface. Where the elongated storage device is mounted to a flat wall surface by two spaced apart mounting plates/adhesives, the above-described formats are highly efficient. As a point of reference, it is desirable to provide a rigid, snap fit connection between the mounting plates and the storage device. While this construction is highly beneficial in establishing necessary support of the storage device relative to the wall surface, variations in flatness of the wall surface can prevent complete contact (or “wetting”) between the adhesive and the wall surface from occurring. A typical mounting technique first entails connecting the two (or more) mounting plates to the storage device (such that the two mounting plates are spaced from one another), and then exposing an adhesive face of the double-faced adhesive carried by each the mounting plates. The exposed adhesives are then brought into contact with the wall surface typically by directing the storage device toward the wall surface. Where the wall surface is not flat across the spacing distance between the two mounting plates, one or both of the exposed adhesive faces may not come into complete contact with the wall surface. This concern is more prevalent in certain end-use environments such as shower and bath enclosures (e.g., a tiled bath wall surface is inherently uneven from tile-to-tile, fiberglass shower walls typically have a slight curvature, etc.).
In light of the above, a need exists for a storage device that can be adhesively mounted to a wall surface of a shower or bath enclosure (or other potentially uneven or non-flat wall surface) in a manner promoting thorough contact between spaced apart exposed adhesive surfaces and the uneven or non-flat wall.